Kansas City groups get $120K for Middle Blue River

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) - Two Kansas City nonprofits are getting a total of about $120,000 in federal funds to improve areas around the Middle Blue River.

The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency says the grants to the Blue River Watershed Association and the Heartland Conservation Alliance are part of about $2 million in funding EPA's providing to organizations around the country to help protect and restore urban waters.

The Kansas City groups are getting about $60,000 each for projects that include involving underserved youth in water quality monitoring studies and identifying vacant land in the watershed for possible low-impact development.

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership is a collaboration of 13 federal agencies working to reconnect urban communities with their waterways. The Middle Blue River was added as a project in 2013.